If you don't want to have to have your mail app open all the time for the forwarding to work you need to get it done at the server end, if the mail provider has a web interface you may be able to do...

Neo Office is a macified version of Open Office, previously it was much better for mac users that the original, however the latest version of Open Office looks much better on the Mac than it used to...

I am sure you could create an osx command line script that did the same thing, but its a little more complicated than converting it as such considering the differences in the various commands etc......

One thing with Open Office, not sure if it is still the same but it used to default to its own document format, for the sake of compatibility I always found it useful to set the default save formats...

Also you can install Windows without using the Assistant by using Disk Utility to create a FAT partition (if it will let you in this case) and then booting off the Windows Install disk and installing...

If it is a 2.5" drive connecting via USB then it may not be getting enough power through the USB on the Mac.
There is quite a variation between machines but laptops generally are worse for this than...